Turgutlular

It had been ages since i last visited yenge and yenge though they live the levels just below me.. i dunno..i do not have any excuse for that..i just find things to do at home...

Anyway, after many times being scolded by Muyessa Yenge..finally last week i told the kids that we all r going to visit their Nene (that's what they call the 2 yenges)..Level 3 yenge.......ringggggggggg......no answer.....she was out..ok...level 2...ringgggggg..........yup!! Mahture yenge was there...there she was with a spatula in one hand... she was cooking...And guess what she told me? The Turgutlar are preparing fresh pasta next door!!..I chatted 5 minutes with yenge in the kitchen n excused myself to go next door...hey!! they were preparing fresh pasta!! i have never seen anyone prepare fresh pasta...except of course if it was my mom..and that was like what? at least 20 years ago!!!! And this is Fresh Turkish Pasta we are talking about!!

My excitement was like up to the limit..!! I wanted to snap photos..but halil was at work..i did not have his handphone to snap snap the turgutlular in actions..i went home to find the camera...no film!! but u know what? my luck..i found one new roll of film..but great!! no one around at that time know how to put the film on!!!!! Can u imagine my frustration??? And Sweet Yenge said..There's my camera..it has film inside.. u can use it.. Gladly i accepted her offer and snap snap..(Deep inside i was afraid to use it..the camera looks very expensive..what if i break it?).. i snapped the photos (i used around only 15 snaps).....quickly sent it to the photo shop. ..bought and asked the lady at the photoshop to put a new roll of film inside..and immediately gave back Yenge her camera (She was shocked that i gave back her camera so soon) ..Yup..dearests..These photos dont come cheap....Looking at halil and smile."Yeah..yeah tem...dont lecture!!".....but i am really really glad that i did get snap these pictures..it is a memory worth remembering...So here are the processes in pictures as to how a typical home made turkish pasta is made...

4 kg of flour
20 eggs
1 litre of milk
into a dough like this

Mahture yenge of istanbul
rolling the dough with an oklava
a typical turkish rolling pin
(this is just a pose hehe)

The dough is rolled over into these thin round shapes
*half dried before being cut off by knife*

Hatice and i menyebuk kejap

Mahture Yenge of Turgutlu with her Mom at work

The fresh pasta before being dried up
and eatennnnnnn

The end product
ı cup pasta to be boiled with 2 cups water.
Add thinly sliced tomatoes...
Yum YUm YUM!!
Eline Sağlik size!!
Nefis Olmuş!!

****Ok...Break time for history lesson*****
Turgutlar..i meant those from turgutlu...Mahture Yenge's 2 elder brothers and families..live in Turgutlu..somewhere near izmir..her elder sister lives in izmir town itself..

One of her brother's son and daughter are working in istanbul..and where do they live? Yup..inside Zaim Apartment..in front of Mahture Yenge!! hehehe (Well..i told u there are lots of our family in the Zaim Apt)..Anyway...the mom,the dad and the grandma came to visit...and they decided to prepare fresh pasta..right on that very day i decided to go yenge visiting ...my luck!

The Zaimlar were originally from Macedonia..They sold their lands..houses in macedonia and came to Turkey. They were the generation of halil's dad's dad...They were in 2 big groups..one group went to izmir and the land nearby (ie Turgutlu) ..while the other came to the Fatih area in istanbul (European side)..Upon coming to Turkey, they had to register a surname..The istanbul group registered their surname as Zaim but the izmir group..they were not so lucky...The person at the izmir's registration office did not accept Zaim as a surname...Therefore, they had no choice but to take another name as a surname..and they decided upon Özyurek..

Why the surname Zaim? Everything goes back to the history...in Macedonia..in the Ottoman Empire, Owners of lands are called Zaim..and our family ancestor(referring to my Zaim family) was one of them. In the peace time, they farm and train soldiers (and those soldiers farm for the land owners)..In the wartime, all of them fought in the war. Hence, the decision use the name Zaim as a surname for those coming to turkey.

Anyway, back to Mahture Yenge... Mahture Yenge married her late husband (my dad in law's brother) named Mustafa...and the funny part is... her brother's name is Mustafa who is married to a woman named Mahture!! so there we have the Mustafa*Mahture of istanbul and Mustafa*Mahture of turgutlu!!! In the old times particularly when Mustafa amca was alive, i wonder how they differentiate each other!!*chuckles*..i am sure if i ask them..there will be stories of confusion on the names..!!..So Mahture Yenge after she got married... from Mahture Özyurek became Mahture Zaim..a name she neednt change at all if the registrar in izmir had accepted the name Zaim as a surname.. To conclude all..Yup..Zaim and Özyurek are basically one family..

And the pasta...Home made pasta...no preservatives..no flavouring..made after that very very long hardwork of rolling, cutting...especially cutting.....and a few days of drying...and shared with the rest of the family..Allah Razı olsun...Eline sağlik size....